Formation and early years: 1975 79 Chrissie Hammond, Russell Hitchcock and Graham Russell met in May 1975

while per forming in the Australian production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice mus ical, Jesus Christ Superstar.[1][2] With Hammond and Hitchcock on vocals and Rus sell on guitar, they formed Air Supply as a harmony vocal group in Melbourne.[3] Hammond left to form Cheetah and was replaced by Jeremy Paul (ex-Soffrok) on ba ss guitar and vocals in 1976.[1] The group's first single, "Love and Other Bruis es", peaked at No. 6 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in Octobe r.[4] It was followed by Air Supply, their debut album, in December, which reach ed No. 17 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart and achieved gold in Australia.[ 1][4] The album was produced by Peter Dawkins (Spectrum, Ross Ryan) with Air Sup ply line-up as Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and drummer Jeff Browne, guitarist Mark McEntee and keyboardist, arranger Adrian Scott.[1][2] Other singles were "If You Knew Me", "Empty Pages" and "Feel the Breeze" but none reached the Top 40.[4] A national tour followed with Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and Scott joined by Nigel Macara (ex-Tamam Shud, Ariel) on drums and Brenton White (Skintight) on guitar.[ 1][2] Their second album, The Whole Thing's Started, also produced by Dawkins,[3] was released in July 1977 with White replaced on lead guitar by Rex Goh.[1] The albu m spawned the singles "Do What You Do" (June), "That's How the Whole Thing Start ed" (October) and "Do It Again" (February 1978) but neither album nor singles ch arted into the Top 40.[4] From late 1977, the group supported Rod Stewart during his tour of Australia he invited them to continue on to United States and Canada. Their third album, Love & Other Bruises, included re-recordings of some earlier tracks, was made mid-tour in Los Angeles in July-August and released later that year in US on Columbia Records with Jimmy Horowitz producing.[3] During the tou r, Paul left the band with a new the line-up of Goh, Hitchcock, Macara, and Russ ell, plus Joey Carbone on keyboards, Robin LeMesurier on lead guitar and Howard Sukimoto on bass guitar.[2] Paul, in 1980, joined fellow Air Supply bandmate McE ntee in the lineup of Divinyls, fronted by Chrissie Amphlett. Air Supply perform ed in London supporting Chicago and Boz Scaggs.[1] Although their music had some commercial success, Russell claimed, on a 1995 DVD , that he and Hitchcock were so poor that they were reduced to checking the back s of hotel sofas for change so that they could buy bread to make toast. By early 1978 the line-up was Hitchcock, Macara and Russell, with Ken Francis on guitar, Rick Mellick on keyboards and Bill Putt (Spectrum, Ariel) on bass guitar.[1][2] Mid-1978 line-up of Hitchcock and Russell with Ralph Cooper (Windchase) on drum s, Brian Hamilton (ex-Sailor) on bass guitar and vocals, and David Moyse (Sailor ) on guitar.[1][2] In April 1979, the band released Life Support, a concept album which included a picture disc on its first printing. Session musicians included Mike Bukowsky on brass, Tommy Emmanuel on guitar, Frank Esler-Smith as arranger and keyboardist, Geoff Oakes on brass, Coz Russo on keyboards and Peter Walker (ex-Bakery) on gui tar.[1][2] Produced by Charles Fisher (Radio Birdman, Ol' 55) , the album was re corded in the Trafalgar Studios in Sydney, Australia where, as Russell recalled on the 2005 DVD, he had half an inch between the end of his guitar and the studi o wall. The album had a five-and-a-half minute version of "Lost in Love", writte n by Russell in fifteen minutes; it was released as a single and peaked at No. 1 3 in Australia and No. 13 in New Zealand.[4][5] The track caught the attention o f Arista Records boss Clive Davis, who remixed the song and released it as a sin gle in the US early the next year. 1980s All Out of Love Play sound

Problems listening to this file? See media help. A re-recorded and remixed version of "Lost in Love" was released internationally as a single in January 1980 on Arista Records. The associated album, Lost in Lo ve, appeared in March and contained three US Top Five singles, including the tit le track which peaked at No. 3 on Billboard Hot 100 and No. 11 in the United Kin gdom Singles Chart.[6][7] The album was produced by former teen steel guitarist, Robie Porter (Daddy Cool, Rick Springfield) for his Wizard Records label. In th e end of 1981 Air Supply were not allowed to to travel by plane to most location s in U.S. due to excessive crying by both memebers. The other US Top Five single s were "Every Woman in the World" (No. 5) and "All Out of Love" (No. 2).[6] Both singles were Top 10 in Australia with "All Out of Love" reaching No. 17 in Neth erlands.[4][8] During 1980 David Green joined on bass guitar with Goh returning on lead guitar in 1981.[3] The album sold two million copies in the US and peake d at No. 22 on Billboard 200.[9] In 1981 Air Supply released The One That You Love, with title track issued as a single which went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.[6] It also featured two oth er Top Ten hits, "Here I Am (Just When I Thought I Was Over You)" and "Sweet Dre ams". A fourth single "I'll Never Get Enough", co-written by Jeanne Napoli, Gary Portnoy and Judy Quay, was released in Japan and achieved Top 10 status. Their next album, in 1982, Now And Forever, continued the group's popularity with the Top 10 hit, "Even the Nights Are Better" and two Top 40 singles "Young Love" and "Two Less Lonely People in the World". In 1983, they released their "Greatest H its" album with a new single, "Making Love out of Nothing at All", written by Ji m Steinman. The song was one of their biggest hits ever spending three weeks at number 2, and the album eventually sold 5 million copies. In 1984, their song "I Can Wait Forever" was included in a scene in the blockbuster movie Ghostbusters , and was included on the soundtrack album. Air Supply released their first live video, Air Supply Live in Hawaii. In 1985, they had one semi-major Billboard hit with "Just as I Am" and a couple of minor hits. Russell and Hitchcock recorded a 1987 Christmas album before taking a brea k from studio recordings. During this time, Hitchcock released his self-titled a lbum in 1988 which was not a big seller. However, he did have the single "Swear to Your Heart" in 1990 from the movie soundtrack for Arachnophobia which receive d significant airplay. 1990s On August 21, 1989, using their old producer and welcoming the return of drummer Ralph Cooper, the duo decided to enter the studio again to record The Earth Is, which was released in 1991 by Giant Records under Warner Bros. Records. The rec ording contains their hit single "Without You," along with singles for "Stronger Than the Night" (with a music video announcing that Air Supply was back) and "S top the Tears". Inside the album is a note about Hitchcock and Russell's origina l Musical Director of their meeting place during Jesus Christ Superstar (and lon g time Band Member/Orchestrator): "This Album is Dedicated to the Memory of Fran k Esler-Smith." Esler-Smith had died earlier that year (1991) from pneumonia. The official fan club released The Earth is World Tour video, a rare collector's item that contains live footage from the band's global tour in support of the a lbum. The album was followed by The Vanishing Race in 1993, which was supported by the hit single "Goodbye" produced by David Foster, with lyrics by Linda Thompson--w hich, although not popular in the United States, was critically praised and gain ed a large following outside the country, especially in Asia where in many count ries they would reach number No. 1. This would lead to another world tour in 199 3 which included Earth, Wind & Fire guitarist Dick Smith. "It's Never too Late"

was another single released from the Vanishing Race. The album itself was dedica ted to the plight of the American Indians, the "Vanishing Race" of the album's t itle. Their third album of the decade, News from Nowhere, was released in 1995. It con tained the Asian hit singles "Someone", "Always", and a cover of "Unchained Melo dy", a song made famous by Al Hibbler. Their popularity continued to soar in Southeast Asian countries, culminating in the release of Now and Forever: Greatest Hits Live, a CD and DVD recording of a live concert in Taipei, Taiwan, also in 1995, which stayed at the top of the Tai wanese album charts for 16 weeks. 2000 They continued to tour heavily throughout Asia and in select venues in the U.S. as well as record into the new millennium, releasing the more adult contemporary -titled The Book of Love (1997), Yours Truly (2001), and Across the Concrete Sky (2003). In 2005, they once again released a live CD/DVD recording; also in 2005 they performed in Havana, Cuba, becoming one of the first foreign bands invited to perform in the country. They were booked to perform two concerts, and played the first show on July 7, the day before Hurricane Dennis hit the country. In h igh winds, their first concert had an audience of 175,000. Due to the hurricane, they could not play the second show. Fans staying at the same hotel as Air Supp ly on July 8 had to be content with Russell performing acoustically for them, as there was no electricity. Their songs were featured in Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Wedding Date. In 2006, they released an acoustic album, The Singer and the Song, and are geari ng up for the release of their first studio album in three years, Zed. In suppor t of the acoustic album, they made their first trip to India in May 2006. Decemb er 2, 2006 saw the duo perform to a capacity crowd in Kingston, Jamaica. This wa s their second visit to Jamaica, having performed at the Air Jamaica Jazz and Bl ues Festival in January 2006. They also have been seen endorsing Time Life's Class ic Soft-Rock Collection. In 2007, Russell released his first adult contemporary solo album called The Future. Russell recently made an appearance in Believe, a comedy about Multi-Level Marke ting. In 2008, Air Supply was named as the number 83 best musical act of all time in t he Billboard Hot 100's 50 year anniversary edition. This was based purely on the ir performance on the charts. They appeared on the December 19, 2008, edition of Don't Forget the Lyrics. On May 4, 2010, they released their latest album titled "Mumbo Jumbo" featuring 14 new tracks. An ex-member of their backing band, Criston Barker, became a spokesperson for He patitis Australia. The music video for All Out of Love is seen briefly in the 2010 Australian film Animal Kingdom.